Recent historic discoveries in the North could significantly reduce the continent’s dependence on Chinese rare earth elements, but only in the long term, leaving Europe’s immediate vulnerabilities unresolved. Last year, Chinese export controls exposed the sheer scale of Western dependence on Beijing for rare earth elements (REEs). The vulnerability is particularly acute in the EU, which relies on China for around 85–90% of its total rare earth supply, rising to near-total dependence (≈98–100%)